Couple arrested in multi-crore land fraud case, over 300 victims duped in Delhi

New Delhi, July 14 (IANS) The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Delhi Police has arrested a couple from Ahmedabad for allegedly duping over 300 people to the tune of over Rs 2.5 crores on pretext of investing in agriculture land after convincing them that it would be developed into a residential colony, police said on Friday.

The accused were identified as Shailender Tiwari and his wife Vijay Laxmi Tiwari.

Police said that a complaint was received from Anil Shukla and 28 other victims wherein they had leveled allegations against Shailender and Vijay, that the couple had published advertisements in newspaper and engaged agents for the booking of plots.

“Having induced by the rosy picture projected by the accused persons, the complainants booked the plots and paid the sale consideration to the alleged persons. After receiving the amount, the accused persons neither got the registry done in favor of complainants nor returned the amount,” the complaints stated.

“The couple delayed the matter on one pretext or the other. The total money paid by the victims on record adds up to over Rs. 1.51 crores. It has been alleged that about 300-350 victims of the locality have also paid around Rs. 2.5 crore to the accused for booking the plots. Many of the victims belong to the lower income group of the society,” the Deputy Commissioner of Police (EOW) Vikram Porwal.

During the investigation, multiple raids were conducted at their suspected hideouts and efforts were made to track Shailender and his wife at their native place in Gorakhpur, UP but all was in vain.

“However, after the couple was arrested Shailender from their rented house in Ahmedabad, Gujarat on July 12,” said the DCP.

Explaining the modus operandi of the accused, the DCP said that the couple used to give token money to purchase agricultural land from farmers and after giving token money they used to start selling the plots of land situated at Khatkhad (Sonipat), Lampur (Narela), Swaroop Nagar and Loni without changing the land use from agricultural to residential purpose, and without observing other legal formalities for building colonies.

“Many of the victims belong to lower income group and they have made payments in cash and receipts for the same have been issued by the alleged. After receiving the sale consideration, the victims could not get the registry done as they had not made full payments to the farmers. After cheating the victims by huge amounts, both of them went underground,” said the DCP.